Should we continue paying taxes?

Lucius Goon, The Malaysian Insider

My wife and I pay our taxes on time and we are assessed at the highest tax bracket. We never avoided or evaded taxes and viewed it as a moral duty.

But let me put in a caveat. I believe the time has come for us taxpayers (and this excludes 90 per cent of civil servants, Umno politicians and their nominees as well as rent-seekers) to consider a campaign of civil disobedience against paying taxes until the government of the day can show that it can utilise this revenue in a responsible way.

I am not talking about the world record holidays/trips abroad taken by the prime minister and the first family or his cabinet ministers. I am referring to the over-the-top spending by the Barisan Nasional government to stay in power.

It seems like every day is Christmas for this prime minister. Tyres for taxi drivers, cash for Malaysians, a few million for this group and another few million for that group.

And then there is the never-ending slush money for BN MPs, the latest being RM1.5 million for every one of those jokers in Parliament. Yes, you and I are sponsoring Mohamed Aziz of Sri Gading.

If that were not enough, we have an MRT project that seems to get more expensive by the day and which is being parcelled out to the rich and connected.

Oh, I forgot, we have an LRT that also gets more expensive by the day and which is being parcelled out to the rich, unqualified and connected.

And then are the billions being spent on infrastructure projects that the country does not need, just so that Najib can make some powerful Umno politician happy.

Basically, my wife and I are working like crazy to pay taxes, which are then used by a corrupt, racist and morally-bankrupt regime to stay in power. Not only that, our hard-earned money is being lavished on people who are allergic to work: Umno politicians and cybertroopers.

I am interested to hear from right-minded Malaysians on whether the time is right for a campaign to stop paying taxes until we can put in place a government that understands it is a steward of our money.

At present, the people in Putrajaya are behaving like feudal lords, “taxing their subjects and spending as they see fit.”